Seats, and more particularly vehicular seats, frequently include an adjustable support assembly for a passenger's back. The adjustable back support assembly is disposed inside the seat and positioned to apply pressure to the lower lumbar region. The lumbar support assembly is made adjustable to accommodate passengers of different body shapes and different support preferences.
One such prior art adjustable lumbar support assembly is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,681 to Gregory, issued Oct. 20, 1981. Gregory discloses a manually adjustable lumbar adjustor means disposed within a seat backrest for incrementally adjusting the contour of the backrest to provide a variable lumbar support. The lumbar adjustor means is supported in the backrest by a support means. Manual actuation of an exterior adjustment knob provides incremental adjustment of the backrest contour. A complicated assembly process is required to connect the lumbar adjustor means and the support means.
Two prior art adjustable lumbar support assemblies structurally similar to Gregory are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,230 to Winkle, issued July 7, 1989 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,304 to Heesch et al, issued Apr. 14, 1987. These prior art assemblies disclose a lumbar adjustor means disposed within a seat backrest for incrementally adjusting the contour of the backrest to provide variable lumbar support. A support means is provided for attachment to the backrest for supporting the lumbar adjustor means within on the backrest. As with. Gregory, these assemblies also require a complicated assembly process to connect the lumbar adjustor means and the support means.
Therefore, the prior art adjustable lumbar support assemblies are deficient in that connection of the lumbar adjustor means and the support means requires a labor-intensive operation which is both time consuming and expensive. Special connectors are fabricated to unite the two elements, and tools are required for proper assembly. It will be appreciated that when used in mass production vehicular seats, extremely large quantities of adjustable lumbar support assemblies must be manufactured. And therefore, when considered together, the additional time and expense required to connect the lumbar adjustor means and the support means becomes significant and costly.